The Red Wing City Council has approved an ordinance setting the maximum number of cannabis dispensaries in the city at two.
The ordinance, approved by the council Nov. 12, also creates rules for registering cannabis businesses in the city and sets the distances cannabis businesses must be from certain amenities.
The goal was to have something in place before the state begins processing cannabis business licenses in 2025, according to Lisa Acker, the city’s permits and license manager. However, the state is still working on the rules regulating cannabis and Red Wing may need to change its ordinance to match the state’s rules in the future.
The state will handle the licenses for cannabis businesses, but the city will oversee the registration of those businesses.
State law requires the city to have two cannabis retail businesses, based on its population, and the ordinance limits the number of cannabis retail businesses to two. Any cannabis retail stores operated on land held in trust for the Prairie Island Indian Community is included in the city’s number of retail businesses, according to the ordinance.
The ordinance requires at least one compliance check per calendar year on cannabis retail businesses.
A cannabis business can’t be located within 1,000 feet of another cannabis retail location, according to the ordinance.
Cannabis businesses aren’t allowed within 1,000 feet of a school, 500 feet of a daycare, 500 feet of an attraction within a park regularly used by children and 500 feet of a residential treatment facility, according to the ordinance.
The 1,000 feet from a school is measured from the school’s property line, not the building, according to Acker. Red Wing High School is the only school with vacant lots nearby and the zoning for those lots will determine if a business could be located there.
City staff is working on the zoning for cannabis businesses. The goal is to fit cannabis businesses into existing zoning and bring a proposal for the council to adopt if a type of cannabis business doesn’t fit, Community Development Director Kyle Klatt said. Cannabis cultivation would be considered agriculture and would be allowed in agricultural zoning while a cannabis retail business would be allowed in retail business zoning, Acker said
